Elden Ring Rivers of Blood Build Guide

How to Play a Rivers of Blood Build in Elden Ring

In this Elden Ring Rivers of Blood build guide, I’ll cover everything you need to know to pilot the build from level 1.

This build looks to take advantage of the Ash of War, Corpse Piler, which is the skill innately on the Rivers of Blood Katana.

We will discuss the best leveling strategy to get through the game, the best weapons and seals, the best Armour, talismans, summons, and what consumables you can use.

Pros

Corpse Piler is an incredibly powerful Ash of War that can quickly dismantle most enemies in the game.
Applies statuses extremely quickly as arcane increases the build-up of bleed, poison, and rot.
The Ash of War is visually appealing and can lead to some stylish kills.

Cons

Struggles against bosses resistant to fire damage and blood loss.
Fairly one-dimensional playstyle revolving around spamming Corpse Piler.

Leveling and Stats

For our starting class, we will be choosing the Samurai. This class will give us the most optimal stat distribution in comparison to the other starting classes, as well as a strong early-game weapon.

You acquire Rivers of Blood fairly late into the game, as it is in Mountaintops of the Giants, so you will need to use another weapon before you acquire it. Luckily, there is another powerful Katana we can use, which can be acquired much earlier in the game.

Stats	Starting Stats	Level 25	Level 50	Level 100	Level 150
Vigor	12	15	30	40	50
Mind	11	11	11	15	15
Endurance	13	13	13	20	20
Strength	12	18	18	18	20
Dexterity	15	22	22	22	40
Intelligence	9	9	9	9	9
Faith	8	8	15	15	15
Arcane	8	8	11	40	60

The first major breakpoint when it comes to leveling is level 25. The priority will be to get 22 Dexterity. This will allow you to wield the Nagakiba, which we will use as our early-game weapon until we acquire Rivers of Blood.

The second breakpoint of level 50 will have us invest heavily in Vigor and Faith. This will give us some much-needed survivability while also unlocking the usage of important buffs for this build.

The third breakpoint of level 100 is where you will see a sizable increase in your damage. At 40 Arcane, your fire damage and bleed build-up will dispatch most bosses very quickly.

At the last breakpoint, which is level 150 we put a stop to the build. Level 150 is the perfect level for people who want to PVP, so if you want to do that, don’t cross this level, or it will influence matchmaking. We will invest more points into Dexterity after reaching the soft cap of 60 Arcane to increase the damage we will deal with our melee attacks.

Weapons

Rivers of Blood

The Rivers of Blood Katana will be the main weapon for this build. It has a unique Ash of War, Corpse Piler, that forms a Blade of Cursed Blood for repeated, interweaving successive attacks.

Acquired after defeating Bloody Finger Okina at the Church of Repose in the Mountaintop of the Giants.
Requires 12 Strength, 18 Dexterity, and 20 Arcane. AoW Scaling is Arcane.

Nagakiba

The Nagakiba is a powerful Katana that can be acquired significantly earlier than Rivers of Blood. If equipped with the Double Slash Ash of War and buffed with Bloodflame Blade, you achieve an effect similar to that of using Corpse Piler but with a slightly smaller range.

Once you have acquired Rivers of Blood, change the Ash of War to Seppuku and infuse the Katana with Blood. This is the strongest option for a power stance with Rivers of Blood.

Acquired by defeating Bloody Finger Hunter Yura. It will no longer be acquireable after entering Mountaintops of the Giants.

Sacred Seals

Dragon Communion

The Dragon Communion Seal is by far the best option for this build. What sets the Dragon Communion Seal apart from others in the game is that it is the only one with an Arcane Incantation scaling.

As we invest many points into Arcane, this will boost the destructive power of all the spells we use in our setup. You can acquire this Seal by defeating a resting Banished Knight in the Fringefolk Hero’s Grave in Limgrave.

Incantations

Bloodflame Blade

This will give your weapon more bleed build-up and extra fire damage as it engulfs your weapon with Bloodflame. It can be used to buff the Nagakiba before equipping it with the Seppuku Ash of War.

Dropped by a Teardrop Scarab northwest of the Rose Church in Liurnia of the Lakes.

Catch Flame

Although underwhelming at first glance, Catch Flame is one of the strongest Incantations in the game. It has short range but an insanely quick cast time with fairly high damage that can melt opponents extremely quickly for almost no FP.

It can be purchased from Brother Corhyn at the Roundtable Hold for 600 Runes.

Buffs

Flame, Grant Me Strength

This incantation increases your physical and fire damage by 20% while also giving you increased stamina recovery speed. It can be acquired very early on in the game and only requires you to have 15 Faith.

This spell can be found behind Fort Gael, on a body between two Flame Chariots.

Golden Vow (Ash of War)

This spell increases your damage by 11.5% and decreases the damage you take by 7.5%. Golden Vow is a solid buff used in many different builds and can be utilized almost immediately at the start of a run.

It is dropped by a mounted Godrick Knight roaming around the cliff above the Deathtouched Catacombs in the North of Limgrave.

Flask of Wondrous Physick

Listed here are a few strong options that pair well with this build.

Flame-Shrouding Cracked Tear

Boosts fire damage by 20% for 3 minutes.

Acquired by defeating the Putrid Avatar found at the Minor Erdtree in Caelid.

Dexterity-Knot Crystal Tear

Increases dexterity by 10 for 3 minutes.

It can be found in a bowl on an island South of Liurnia.

Opaline Bubbletear

Decreases damage received by 90% on the next hit.

Acquired by defeating the Erdtree Avatar near the Minor Erdtree in the Weeping Peninsula.

Talismans

Here is a list of Talismans that go well with this build. You can swap them out if you want to deal more damage or have more survivability.

Shard of Alexander

It can be acquired at the end of Warrior Jar Alexander’s questline in Farum Azula.

It increases skill damage by 15%.

Fire Scorpion Charm

It can be found in the Wyndham Catacombs, locked behind a sealed Imp Statue.

Increases fire damage by 12% but increases physical damage taken by 10%.

Ritual Sword Talisman

It can be found in a chest after defeating Demi-Human Queen Gilika in the Lux Ruins in the Altus Plateau.

Increases damage dealt by 10% while at full HP.

Ritual Shield Talisman

It can be found just outside the door to the Colosseum in Leyndell, Royal Capital.

Decreases damage taken by 30% while at full HP.

Green Turtle Talisman

Green Turtle Talisman is found in a chest surrounded by turtles in a room sealed by an Imp Statue in Summonwater Village in Limgrave.

Raises stamina recovery speed by 8 per second.

Dragoncrest Greatshield Talisman

This can be found in a chest surrounded by pests in the building above the Haligtree Roots Site of Grace in Elphael, Brace of the Haligtree.

Decreases physical damage received by 20%.

Armor

As Corpse Piler is a relatively slower skill without hyper-armor, quicker bosses can easily interrupt you while you try to use it.

To solve this issue, we will want to have at least 51 Poise, which will make it more difficult for enemy attacks to interrupt us while we use our skills.

I recommend pairing the White Mask, Blaidd’s Armor, Blaidd’s Gauntlets, and the Night’s Cavalry Greaves. This set looks stylish and gets you over the 51 Poise threshold while providing decent resistance.

The most crucial piece of this set will be the White Mask. This helmet will increase your damage output by 10% after blood loss occurs near you. This effect can be triggered by using the Ash of War, Seppuku.

White Mask

Bloodstained, grinning White Mask. Worn by war surgeons who effectively mercy killers.

Poise: 5

Blaidd’s Armor

Well-worn black armor of the man-wolf Blaidd. The pelt serves as a cape, protecting from cold.

Poise: 28

Blaidd’s Gauntlets

Well-worn black gauntlets of the man-wolf Blaidd.

Poise: 6

Night’s Cavalry Greaves

Pitch-black greaves are thinly painted with dried blood and worn by the Night’s Cavalry, who ride funeral steeds.

Poise: 15

Flask Distribution

At the maximum amount of Flasks, I recommend going for a 10 Crimson flask and 4 Cerulean flask split. A large portion of the damage from this build comes from using Corpse Piler, so it is important to have enough blue flasks to cast your skill more often without running out of FP.

Summons

Other than the apparent summons, such as Mimic Tear and Black Knife Tiche, I have some recommendations that can go well with this build.

Omen Killer Rollo

Omenkiller Rollo summons the spirit of Omenkiller Rollo. This summon is incredibly good at taking boss agro from you as it is very aggressive and deals very high damage.

He also has a good amount of HP, so he can take agro for longer while you spam your weapon skills. Although he costs 113 FP, you can summon him using the Cerulean Hidden Tear for infinite FP.

It can be acquired by defeating the Fell Twins at the Capital Outskirts.

Greatshield Soldier Ashes

Greatshield Soldier Ashes summons five greatshield soldier spirits. These soldiers have high defense skills and can keep bosses agro very well, as they tend to swarm immobile bosses from all sides. They can even stunlock some smaller bosses with lower poise. It also serves as a good distraction for safely using your weapon skills and Incantations.

Usually found on a corpse in a graveyard in Nokron, Eternal City.

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